ANC to tackle KZN standoff

A report on the halting of the ANC KwaZulu-Natal conference and what transpired will be handed over to the party's national working committee (NWC) today, where a decision on the way forward will be taken.

A group of disgruntled members approached the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday at the 11th hour.

They asked that the conference be interdicted from going ahead at the time the delegates were already at the University of Zululand to register to take part. An interim interdict was granted.

KwaZulu-Natal is the ANC's most influential and biggest province. With a year to go before the 2019 general elections, the party needs to get its house in order.

Last year, the provincial executive committee was declared unlawful by the same high court after irregularities at the party's 2015 conference were challenged by the losing faction.

Provincial task team coordinator Sihle Zikalala explained during a media briefing on Saturday that there was a perception among ANC members that some national leaders interfered and were "peddling divisions".

Zikalala said the party was hoping to hold the conference in six weeks' time.

Zikalala is standing for the position of chairman, the position he was elected to in the 2015 conference which was nullified by the court.

It was understood that the province had reached a power-sharing agreement ahead of the conference, with Zikalala standing unopposed and Mike Mabuyakhulu as his deputy.

The Sunday Times reported that former president Jacob Zuma had sunk the settlement deal between warring factions.

This intervention also reportedly torpedoed the settlement brokered by President Cyril Ramaphosa.